Data visualization is a great way to celebrate our favorite pieces of art as well as reveal connections and ideas that were previously invisible. More importantly, it’s a fun way to connect things we love — visualizing data and kicking up our feet for a movie night. All week, Nightingale is exploring the intersections between data visualization and all kinds of entertainment.

数据可视化是庆祝我们最喜欢的艺术品以及揭示以前不可见的联系和想法的好方法。 更重要的是，这是连接我们喜欢的事物的一种有趣方式-可视化数据并为电影之夜踢起脚来。 整个晚上，夜莺都在探索 数据可视化与各种娱乐之间 的 交集 。

After a long day of meetings, projections, and rigorous data analysis there’s nothing I look forward to more in the evening than sitting down and fiddling with a Business Intelligence tool.

在经过漫长的一天的会议，预测和严格的数据分析之后，除了坐下来并摆弄一个商业智能工具之外，我没有什么比晚上更期待的了。

Really. I’m not joking.

真。 我不是在开玩笑。

You might think I’m getting paid to say this (I’m not), but most evenings, while my girls are falling asleep next door, I’m sitting in my office in the same chair I worked in all day, building data viz in Tableau.

您可能会认为我得到这样的报酬(我没有)，但是大多数晚上，当我的女孩们在隔壁睡着时，我正坐在办公室里，我整天都在工作，构建数据在Tableau中。

For fun.

为了娱乐。

Because I’m making art.

因为我在做艺术。

I’m not bold enough to call myself an artist but I’ve always been into drawing. Whether it be in class, a meeting, or watching TV you’ll find a pencil in my hand and images appearing on a piece of paper. While the tools have changed over time, from a Bristol pad and Dixon Ticonderoga to iPad Pro with Magic Pencil, the art and doodling has been constant.

我没有足够大胆的称呼自己是画家，但我一直都在绘画。 无论是在课堂上，开会还是在看电视，您都会发现我手中的铅笔和图像出现在纸上。 从Bristol垫和Dixon Ticonderoga到使用Magic Pencil的iPad Pro，工具随着时间的推移而发生了变化，但艺术和涂鸦却一直保持不变。

Let’s get back to data viz.

让我们回到数据可视化。

I’ve been actively creating data visualization on Tableau Public for about three years now and have a portfolio of over 140 visualizations. A lot of my early work was driven by public data exercises that really helped me establish a connection to the #DataFam community as well as skill up.

大约三年来，我一直在Tableau Public上积极创建数据可视化，并且拥有140多种可视化产品组合。 我的很多早期工作都是由公共数据练习驱动的，这确实帮助我建立了与#DataFam社区的联系以及技能。

When you’re really trying to get traction, these exercises are PERFECT. With the same tool and dataset you see hundreds of different vizzes every week. If someone else created something better/cooler/smarter than your work, the only thing keeping you from getting there is your own skillset and creativity.

当您真正想要获得牵引力时，这些练习是完美的。 使用相同的工具和数据集，您每周可以看到数百个不同的vizz。 如果其他人创造了比您的工作更好/更酷/更聪明的东西，那么唯一使您无法实现目标的就是自己的技能和创造力。

But I started to find that community exercises didn’t always produce my best work. It’s not their fault, it’s entirely mine. If I felt uninterested in a topic or dataset I tried to make myself more interested. Bold color choices, weird chart types, lots and lots of unnecessary graphics. It was counterproductive.

但是我开始发现，社区锻炼并不总是能产生我最好的成绩。 这不是他们的错，完全是我的。 如果我对某个主题或数据集不感兴趣，我会尝试使自己更加感兴趣。 大胆的颜色选择，奇怪的图表类型，很多不必要的图形。 这适得其反。

I wanted to learn AND make art.

我想学习和制作艺术。

Thinking back to what originally got me excited about DataViz early in my career, I remembered a visualization by Rody Zakovich analyzing the legendary rock band Queen. Rody transformed what I thought a data viz could be.

回想起最初让我对DataViz感到兴奋的是什么，我想起了Rody Zakovich进行的可视化分析，分析了传奇的摇滚乐队Queen。 罗迪改变了我认为数据可视化的面貌。

Queen’s albums, weighted by words, tapering into a single point from Freddie Mercury’s spiked fist.

皇后的专辑，经言语权重，从房地美的尖锐拳头中逐渐缩小。

(Here’s the chart, sans Mercury)

(这是图表，无水星)

What! You can do that?

什么！ 你能做到吗？

I was taken with the cleverness and elegance of the design, but what really caught my attention was the passion. Rody had taken a topic he was personally fascinated by and elevated it with data. And it wasn’t really that hard. Yes, he used trigonometric functions to bend the lines at the bottom, but we’re really looking at 4 relatively simple charts here. BANS across the top, bar charts, a colored text table, and then some bent lines.

我被设计的巧妙和优雅所吸引，但真正引起我注意的是激情。 Rody选择了一个他个人着迷的话题，并用数据提升了话题。 并没有那么难。 是的，他使用三角函数在底部弯曲了线条，但是我们实际上在这里查看了4个相对简单的图表。 顶部有BANS，条形图，彩色文本表，然后是一些折线。

The combination, and the passion behind it, were what captured my imagination.

这种结合以及背后的激情吸引了我的想象力。

So, the question is, why wasn’t I working on projects that covered MY interests?

因此，问题是，为什么我不从事涉及我的兴趣的项目？

Cards on the table, I’ve been a geek since long before it was cool. I blasted through Jurassic Park (my first novel) in a brazen 24 hour binge as an 11-year-old. I read Star Wars expanded universe novels in middle school (in class, no less), and sketched pictures of Batman and the X-Men for friends.

桌上的牌，很早以前我就一直是个极客。 我11岁那年，在侏罗纪公园(我的第一本小说)猛烈地轰炸了24小时，狂奔地冲了进去。 我读了中学时期的《星球大战》(Star Wars)扩展的宇宙小说(在课堂上同样如此)，并为朋友们画了蝙蝠侠和X战警的照片。

While my tastes have progressed, I’m still a comic reading, sci-fi loving, pop-culture junkie. And we now live in an age where that’s become mainstream.

虽然我的品味有所提高，但我仍然是喜剧小说，科幻小说和流行文化迷。 我们现在生活在一个已成为主流的时代。

What could I learn, what could I REALLY do, if I chose to work on things that captured my attention?

如果我选择从事引起我注意的事情，我会学到什么，我真正能做些什么？

Data viz is about translating difficult to grasp concepts into easy-to-understand visuals. While bars, BANS, lines, and maps may be the bread-and-butter of the discipline, there are other ways to express these ideas.

数据即将难于理解的概念转换为易于理解的视觉效果。 尽管条形图，BANS，线条和地图可能是该学科的基础，但还有其他表达这些思想的方法。

This led me to ideas like mapping the dreamworlds of Inception. Christopher Nolan’s complex dream-heist masterpiece can be complicated to wrap your mind around (believe me, I had to figure out how to make an image of it), but it was an EXCELLENT opportunity to practice Cartesian mapping of lines.

这使我想到了一些想法，例如绘制盗梦空间。 克里斯托弗·诺兰(Christopher Nolan)复杂的梦he以求的杰作可能很复杂，难以缠住您的头脑(相信我，我必须弄清楚如何制作图像)，但这是实践笛卡尔直线映射的绝佳机会。

The crew executing the heist enters a series of layered dreams with one member staying behind at each level. After hitting the bottom, they wake up successively through the dreams that they’ve passed down through, ultimately (we hope) returning to the waking world.

执行抢劫的工作人员进入了一系列分层的梦想，每个成员都停留在每个级别上。 跌至谷底之后，他们通过梦passed以求的梦境中醒来，最终(我们希望)回到苏醒的世界。

You may ask, IS this “DataViz”?

你可能会问，这是 “DataViz公司”？

If your sole criteria is “does it show numerical data” then the answer might be no. But, like a map, it’s expressing the relationship between locations and taking a concept that’s difficult to describe by text and giving it a visual explanation.

如果您唯一的标准是“是否显示数字数据”，那么答案可能是“否”。 但是，就像地图一样，它表达了位置之间的关系，并采用了难以用文字描述的概念，并对其进行了直观的解释。

At this point, you’re thinking “yeah, but I’m working in reality, not dreams”.

在这一点上，您正在思考“是的，但是我在现实中工作，而不是梦想”。

Let’s talk something more tangible, like the growth and contraction of a marketplace. In this particular case, I’d read Blake J Harris Console Wars about the early 90s marketing battles of the fledgling Sega against Nintendo.

让我们谈谈更切实的事情，例如市场的增长和收缩。 在这种情况下，我读过布雷克·J·哈里斯(Blake J Harris)的《 控制台大战》，内容是关于90年代初期刚成立的世嘉与任天堂之间的营销战。

I wanted to find a unique chart type that could show the relative sales volumes of the different console manufacturers over time, as well as illustrate the boom and bust nature of the market as a whole.

我想找到一种独特的图表类型，该图表类型可以显示不同游戏机制造商随着时间的推移的相对销量，并说明整个市场的繁荣和萧条性质。

There are plenty of “safe” ways to express this idea, but embracing the idea of the vivid visual bombast of video games, a novel chart type was the perfect fit. I’m not a “Math guy,” and it took me about nine attempts, but I was able to correctly navigate the dozen or so layered mathematical calculations needed to create the lush waves of the console gaming market in this Stream Graph.

有很多“安全”的方式来表达这个想法，但是在拥抱视频游戏生动视觉冲击的想法时，一种新颖的图表类型非常适合。 我不是一个“数学专家”，我花了大约9次尝试，但我能够正确地导航创建此流图中的游戏机游戏市场的波澜起伏所需的十几个分层数学计算。

You’re not going to find this in the Big Book of Dashboards and it’s not a best practice chart. Having said that, it catches the eye and serves its purpose. The entry points for different companies into the marketplace (and some exist) are easy to recognize, and you can see the evolution and growth up until the peak in 2008 when Nintendo’s explosive Wii game sales topped out.

您不会在仪表盘大书中找到它，它也不是最佳实践图表。 话虽如此，它引起了人们的注意并达到了目的。 不同公司进入市场(有一些存在)的切入点很容易辨认，您可以看到它的发展和增长，直到2008年任天堂的爆炸性Wii游戏销量达到顶峰时为止。

You can still have fun with some best-practice charts too.

您仍然可以通过一些最佳实践图表获得乐趣。

Inspired by an episode of the sitcom Community which featured a class “Nicolas Cage: Good or Bad,” I decided to explore the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the actor’s films. Since RT includes % approval ratings from both Audiences AND Critics, I chose to analyze the gaps in perception.

受情景喜剧社区一集“ Nicolas Cage：好或坏”的启发，我决定探索演员电影的烂番茄得分。 由于RT包含了来自受众和评论家的认可度百分比，因此我选择分析认知方面的差距。

This Diverging Bar chart shows us where the two types of viewers differ and agree most significantly. Outside of a couple of creative design flares and color choices, this is a perfect best-practice viz that made for a fun evening creating, and several interesting discoveries within the data along the way.

这张分散的条形图向我们展示了两种类型的观看者在哪些方面截然不同，并且最为一致。 除了几个创新的设计效果和颜色选择之外，这是一个完美的最佳实践，即创造了一个有趣的夜晚，并在沿途数据中发现了一些有趣的发现。

Life is short, though, and sometimes you just feel compelled to swing for the fences with a viz that breaks all of the rules. It COULD work, it could flop, but by pouring yourself into it, putting yourself out there, you find out what works and what doesn’t.

人生虽然短暂，但有时您会被迫以打破所有规则的眼光投向篱笆。 它可能会工作，但可能会失败，但是通过将自己投入其中，放到外面，您会发现哪些有效，哪些无效。

That’s the story behind my Marty McFly timeline viz, which shows a VERY unorthodox timeline. Time travel is WEIRD. Though a character physically moves to a different period in time (forward or back) they’re always aging as they continue, and thus, their own personal timeline is always moving forward.

这就是我的Marty McFly时间轴背后的故事，它显示了非常非传统的时间轴。 时光旅行很奇怪。 尽管角色在身体上移动到不同的时间段(前进或后退)，但随着角色的继续前进，它们总是在老化，因此，他们自己的个人时间表总是在前进。

With each of these projects I learned something new about what did (or didn’t) work, and in many cases tried new techniques I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to try at work.

通过这些项目中的每一个，我都学到了一些新的东西(关于什么起作用(或不起作用))，并且在许多情况下尝试使用新技术，我将没有机会尝试工作。

Had I not been as invested and curious about the subjects as I am, I know (I have the vizzes to prove it) I wouldn’t have created something as interesting.

如果我不像以前那样对课题感到投入和好奇，我知道(我有证明自己的决心)我不会创造出那么有趣的东西。

Self-development, even through fun topics and unorthodox charts, is a journey. You’re still going to put in hours on evenings and weekends, and results aren’t immediate. If you doubt me, feel free to look back through my Tableau Portfolio, you’ll see plenty of clunkers. However, if you treat yourself to projects that you are passionate about, you’ll find yourself picking up neat tricks, greater speed, and a new zeal that will cross over into your day job in an amazing way.

即使通过有趣的话题和不合常规的图表，自我发展也是一段旅程。 您仍然会在晚上和周末花几个小时，结果不是立竿见影的。 如果您对我表示怀疑，请随时回顾我的Tableau产品组合，您会发现很多陈旧的东西。 但是，如果您对自己热衷的项目善待自己，就会发现自己掌握了绝妙的技巧，更快的速度和一种新的热情，这些热情将以惊人的方式渗透到您的日常工作中。

Viz your passion. It’ll transform your work, boost your learning, and create a portfolio you’re proud of.

查看您的热情。 它会改变您的工作，促进您的学习，并创建您引以为傲的作品集。

Zach Bowders is a data analyst, aspiring artist, and host of the Data+Love Podcast. His Portfolio can be viewed on Tableau Public at https://public.tableau.com/profile/zach.bowders#!/

Zach Bowders是一位数据分析师，有抱负的艺术家，并且是Data + Love Podcast的主持人。 可以在Tableau Public上通过 https://public.tableau.com/profile/zach.bowders#!/ 查看他的作品集。